Craig Stone has left Ramsgate - but his desire to play in a successful team hasn’t changed.

The 35-year-old defender was a virtual ever-present during his time with the Rams but missed out on a sixth career promotion after the team’s Isthmian South East Play-off Semi-Final defeat.

Stone won’t be at Ramsgate for another crack at promotion but aims to be fighting at the top end somewhere and hasn’t been short of offers.

He said: “I have had concrete offers and it seems like when you get older you get more offers, which is nice!

“For one reason or another, Ramsgate didn’t quite feel like it was going to be the right place for me next season, so I made the decision that I would go elsewhere.

“I haven’t decided exactly where that is yet, but it will be something else and somewhere else.

“It has been another positive off-season for me where there is still interest and clubs that want me to come and play for them.

“I am saying to managers now, ‘What are your aspirations for the season?’.

“I want to win the league, or to be in the play-offs to win them. It was a huge disappointment this season and the first time I have been in the play-offs and not won. It was a new experience for me.

“I have been lucky previously, but next year I want to play for a club that feel they can go and realistically win the league.”

Stone is determined to be a manager one day, and that could be his next step, but he feels there are still plenty of seasons left in his legs.

He said: “I played every game last year, barring two when I had a head injury, starting off in the Isthmian Premier with Hastings and then played every game for Ramsgate. It is not like I am getting injured regularly.

“People are asking me about managing, and as much as I am interested in that and love coaching, there are offers from clubs and managers who are saying, ‘come in, play for me but also I will lean on you with your coaching and playing experience’, which works for me. I enjoy it and I am passionate about it.

“It is nice to know managers trust me with that side of things as well.

“The day that I feel like I am struggling and not keeping up with the pace of the game and getting injured regularly, then I will stop.

“All the while my family aren’t turning around to me and saying, ‘you’re embarrassing yourself here and getting run ragged’ I am happy to keep playing.”

Stone also has to factor in his 14-year-old son Josh’s promising football career, watching how he progresses at Gillingham as he moves up to under-15s from next season, a crucial two-year period working toward a potential full-time scholarship.

The two of them were on the same team at the weekend for a charity event.

“I have to be around his journey now,” Stone said.

“He is going to be playing Saturday mornings and going into an important time in his career at Gillingham and I don’t want to miss out on that.

“I have had my career in that sense and it is now about the start of his. I have to get the balance right to support him as well as still playing at a good level and enjoying it.”

Stone came close to managing at Herne Bay a few years ago but will be careful about how that part of his career progresses.

He said: “I have the aspiration and the pathway is to go and be a manager.

“I definitely want to do that without a shadow of a doubt. It is about the timing and the right club and the right opportunity. I want to hit the ground running.

“I am an ambitious person, I don’t want to just go through the motions.

“I want to manage in the Football League and I want to do it full-time, that’s the same as me as a player. I went to Ramsgate because I genuinely felt that there was a chance to win the league.

“There are some interesting roles being offered at the moment.

“What I always hear people say is ‘play as long as you possibly can’ and in the back of

my mind when clubs speak to me about management I am

not fully convinced on retiring yet.

“The fact is I am not getting younger and if the right opportunity came along and I felt it was better to retire and go into management then I would do it, but I am also ready to carry on playing for the next five years. We will see what comes my way.”